2023 Back to School Announcements
Posted on 08/14/2023
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Dear Akin Road Parents/Guardians,
We hope you are enjoying the summer days and gatherings with friends and family! We have been busy cleaning and planning for the upcoming school year! Don’t worry, it’s not quite time for school yet, but we wanted to put some important dates and information on your radar as you plan the remainder of your summer!
You, as parents, are an integral part of our success, and the staff at ARES is excited to partner with you this year. We look forward to our students enjoying field trips, assemblies, extracurricular activities, and all the special events that make their school experience
great.
Thank you in advance for your support and collaboration in the year ahead. We are excited to partner with you to help our Tigers excel!
Classroom Assignments:
Classroom Assignments will be posted in Campus Portal on Wednesday, August 16th at 8 a.m. If you have not created a Campus Portal account, please do so before August 16th by using the following instructions: Campus Portal Instructions. Please be aware that a great deal of time and effort has been utilized in creating balanced classroom rosters, with many factors being considered. Changes to class lists this close to the beginning of the school year create significant imbalances and are not possible. For those reasons, I ask parents not to request changes to classroom placement once the lists have been posted in the Campus Portal. Adequate time and opportunity has been given for parent input, and students will be best served in their current classrooms. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Important Notes from Marshall Lines About Bussing:
Transportation information will be posted in Campus Portal on August 28, 2023. If you are expecting transportation information and it does not appear for your child, it typically means your child is classified as a walker. If you have changes to or questions about your child’s transportation information, please contact Marshall Lines at 651-463-8689.
Incoming Kindergarten and New Farmington Students - All new students will be routed to/from their primary home address unless something else was requested on their enrollment form.
Returning 1st-5th Grade students - no changes are made to transportation arrangements from previous years unless changes are requested through Marshall Lines (daycare/split households, etc)
Multiple Addresses – Campus Portal can only show one pickup and one drop off address. If a child lives between two family households within the Meadowview boundaries, families will need to call Marschall Line to receive information about the child’s bussing at the second address.
Transportation change requests: All transportation changes/requests must be completed by Aug 24, 2023 . Route changes will be frozen between August 25 - September 13th so staff can manage the busy start of the year.
Meet & Greet / Assessment Days:
Please mark your calendars and plan to join us on Thursday, August 24th or Tuesday, August 29th for a Meet & Greet/Assessment Time with your child’s classroom teacher. Students will spend approximately 20-30 minutes one on one with their new classroom
teacher. They’ll get to know one another, chat about the upcoming year, and complete a brief assessment. Families can also bring school supplies and ask any questions they have about the upcoming school year that day.
New Kindergarten Families – We are so excited to meet our new kindergarteners! Kindergarten families will also be taking time for a parent guided school scavenger hunt in the building to meet other important people and see other spaces they will go to as a
kindergarten student. Please allow time to see the building with your child. All Akin Road Kindergarteners will begin school on Tuesday, September 5th.
Nurse Angie will be available only on Tuesday, August 29th, Assessment Day. If you’d like to drop off medicine, medical supplies, or have questions for Nurse Angie, please stop by her office to connect.
Sign-up for an Assessment Time:
Once classroom assignments have been posted in Campus Portal (August 16th), families will be able to use the following link
https://ptcfast.com/schools/Akin_Road_Elementary_School
to arrange an assessment time with their classroom teacher. If your child is unable to attend on August 24th or 29th, please connect with your child’s classroom teacher to arrange an alternate assessment time.
Fall School Pictures:
School Pictures by Lifetouch will be taken during Assessments (Aug 24th and 29th). There will be no scheduled times, please arrive anytime during the scheduled time of 7:30am-3:00pm. If your assessment time is at 3:00 or later, please get your pictures taken BEFORE your assessment conference. Pictures will take place in the gymnasium.
Online ordering information can be found here. Online ordering is preferred, however there will be order forms available in the gymnasium.
Picture ID Code is: EVT82RN9Q
If you are unable to attend on August 24th or 29th, we will have a Fall Picture Make-Up day scheduled on September 26th. Make-ups will take place during school hours.
Breakfast/Lunch & Food Services: - NEW THIS YEAR
With the passage of the MN Free School Meals Program, each enrolled student will be able to receive one free eligible breakfast and one free eligible lunch each academic school day. Second meals, second entrees, milk and A la Carte items may still be purchased as long as the student has either funds in their account or has cash on hand at the time of purchase. Breakfast times will be from 7:30am-7:50am and students should report right to the cafeteria if they are having breakfast.
Applications for free and reduced price meals should still be completed in order to determine eligibility for other programs throughout the district. Applications can be found below, in the main office of your school or at the food service office located at
510 Walnut Street. All completed forms should be returned to the food service office at the Walnut Street location.
Free/Reduced Lunch Application: Meal Benefit Application - English
Free/Reduced Lunch Application: Meal Benefit Application - Spanish
Menus and other information and can be found at https://www.farmington.k12.mn.us/services/food_services___chartwells_
Each family should receive a Welcome Packet from the Food Service Department in August, containing your child’s pin number, account balance, and more. If you do not receive a Welcome Packet from Chartwells or have questions about any Food Service
related information please contact Chartwells main office at 651-460-3820.
To help your child practice their PIN number before the first day of school, use this key pad image. Practicing in advance will be tremendously helpful for our K-2 learners especially.
To view the breakfast and lunch menus throughout the year click here: Nutrislice Menus | Farmington Area Public Schools
If you’d like to learn more about Meal Benefits, please click here for additional information: Educational Benefits Information. We encourage families to see if they qualify for Meal Benefits, as you will automatically qualify for iPad insurance coverage also, so please make sure to complete your paperwork and submit it to Chartwells today!
If your family is experiencing financial set-backs and you’d like to explore other potential supports or resources available to you, please contact our Akin Road Family Support Worker, Lindsy Bednar. Ms. Bednar can be reached at [email protected]
or 651-460-1771. She returns to the office on Monday, August 28th.
School Hours:
The first day of school is Tuesday, September 5th for students in grades K-5.
The student hours at Akin Road Elementary are 7:40am – 2:10pm. Students should arrive each morning between 7:30 am - 7:40 am so they can make it into their classrooms before the second bell rings at 7:40am. Please do not drop students prior to 7:25 am or pick them up any later than 2:25 pm unless you’ve registered for Kid Connection. Our school staff members have several meetings before and after school, so there’s no supervision outside of these times. Your child’s safety is our highest priority, so if you need additional before or after school care, please click on the following link to learn more: Kid Connection-School Age Child Care - Farmington
Area Community Education
Student Pick Up and Drop Off Procedures:
We ask that all parents who will be dropping off and/or picking up their child(ren) from Akin Road use the Parent Pick Up/Drop Off lot on the east side of the building using Door 1 (K-1st grades and siblings) and Door 4 (2nd-5th grades). We ask that parents not pick up/drop off on the west side of the building where the buses drop off/pick up. We also ask that parents not come into the building to drop off/pick up their child(ren) before or after school. This is to minimize the number of outside individuals entering our building and maintain safety. The curb area past the flagpole is reserved for daycare and special education buses - please do not pull up past the flagpole. Thank you.
School Supplies:
To find the most updated supply list, please click on the following link: ARES K-5 School Supply List 23-24
Enjoy the rest of your summer and we look forward to seeing your child(ren) on assessment day! If you ever have a question or concern, please feel free to contact me.
See you soon!
Tracey Magnuson, Principal
Akin Road Elementary
651-460-1700